A statistical summary of what's been happening in and around the Nation's Capital has been once again covered in the 1998 edition of the Australian Capital Territory in Focus, released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Being the ACT's equivalent of the Australian Yearbook it's a major resource tool used by business and government in the ACT. This year's edition provides a wealth of informative and comprehensive insight on the ACT, covering a range of topics such as the economy, people, government, education, health, housing, tourism and transportation. There is also an expanded chapter dealing with the Australian Capital Region.

Some highlights from the publication include:

In the Australian Capital Territory

Population growth in the ACT slowed in the year to June 1997, falling from 1.13 per cent to 0.5 per cent. While the rate of natural increase remained steady, there was a rise in the number of people moving interstate.

In 1996-97 each resident of the ACT paid an average of $1,970 in taxes, fees and fines to the ACT government.

Out of a total private final consumption expenditure in 1996-97 of $5,781 million, ACT residents spent $300 million on cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol and $371 million on health.

At September 1997 there were 13,240 businesses employing wage and salary earners in the ACT and just over 66 per cent of these businesses were small businesses employing less than five people.

Business bankruptcies in the ACT rose by 51 per cent to 548 in 1996-97.

Retail turnover was up 8.6 per cent in 1996-97, to $2,444 million.

Male managers and administrators in the ACT worked an average of 5.4 hours less per week than their Australian counterparts while females worked only 0.3 hours less.

There were 37,466 tonnes of paper recycled in the ACT in 1996-97.

Just over one in five people residing in the ACT had a mental disorder at some time during 1997.

In the 12 months to June 1997, there were 42,011 criminal incidents recorded by police in the ACT, representing an increase of 3,374 (8.7 per cent) over the previous year.

Literacy levels in 1996 were higher in the ACT than Australia as a whole. Just over one quarter of ACT adults were classified as having the highest level of literacy while only one in six Australians were in the same group.

There were 1.58 million visitors to the ACT in 1996-97, 18 per cent from overseas.

In the Australian Capital Region

The Australian Capital Region, which encompasses the ACT and south eastern NSW, had a population of 489,642 in June 1997.

At the time of the 1996 Census, 11,608 people living outside the ACT travelled to the ACT for work. There were also 3,428 people who travelled from the ACT to surrounding regions in NSW for work.

Within the Region, unemployment rates for the September quarter of 1997 were highest in Eurobodalla (11.5 per cent) and Yarrowlumla (8.5 per cent) and lowest in Snowy River (2.2 per cent), Gunning (2.5 per cent) and Crookwell and Cooma-Monaro (both 2.9 per cent).

Agricultural establishments made up one fifth of the 26,442 businesses in the Region and ran a total of 6.8 million sheep and lambs, 516,000 cattle for meat and 45,000 cattle for milk.

Full details are in Australian Capital Territory in Focus (cat. no. 1307.8) available in ABS bookshops.

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